Maui Jim is a sunglasses manufacturer based in Peoria, Illinois. The company was founded in Lahaina, Hawaii in 1980. As of 2015, the company was the third-largest producer of sunglasses in the world.
History
The company's roots began in 1980 when a fisherman named Jim Richards began selling sunglasses on the beaches of Maui, Hawaii. He was known as the original "Maui Jim". Several years later, the company developed polarized sunglasses to protect eyes from glare and ultraviolet rays. In 1991, Walter Hester, a boat captain turned oilman, purchased the company after trying the sunglasses. He named the company Hester Enterprises, Inc. In 1994, Illinois-based RLI Vision became the mainland distributor for the company, then called Maui Jim Sunglasses. In 1996, the company bought RLI Vision from its parent company, Peoria, Illinois-based RLI Corp., and named the new combined entity Maui Jim Inc. The transaction was structured such that RLI Corp became a major shareholder in Maui Jim, and the company moved its headquarters to Peoria. The company kept an office in Maui. In 2004, the company opened a distribution center in Braunschweig, Germany, a location that eventually became its European headquarters. In June 2006, the company opened its first prescription lab in Peoria, IL. In 2011, the company bought Zeal Optics, a Boulder, Colorado-based designer and manufacturer of action-sport polarized goggles and sunglasses. By 2015, the company had approximately 500 employees. Also in 2015, the company became the title sponsor of college basketball's Maui Invitational Tournament. In March 2018, the company started selling optical eyeglasses. In July, the company opened its first prescription lab outside of Peoria, located at its European headquarters in Braunschweig.
Products
As of 2016, the company sold 125 different styles of polarized sunglasses in over 100 countries. In addition to their non-prescription sports and fashion sunglasses, Maui Jim also produces prescription lenses for their designs including progressive lenses. The company's glasses incorporate a patented polarization technology called PolarizedPlus2.
Locations
Besides its Peoria headquarters, Maui Jim maintains an office and store front in Lahaina, Hawaii, a Canadian office in Mississauga, Ontario, and a European headquarters in Braunschweig, Germany.
